Wikipedia: "On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was shot and killed by Jeronimo Yanez, a St. Anthony, Minnesota, police officer, after being pulled over in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. Castile was in a car with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her four-year-old daughter when he was pulled over by Yanez and another officer."
Shooting of Philando Castile

Friday, June 23, 2017

I wish I'd read about the Alt-Right on Hillary Clinton's web site sooner. I missed all the election news that could've illuminated the mystery.

The "OK" emoji 👌 and hand signal has a double meaning in the Alt-Right context for "WP," which stands for white power. This sign is sometimes referred to as a Satanic symbol. It's no surprise that everything in this movement is about doublespeak, or passive-aggressive, undercover communication.

Like Polandball, this frog is a motif for white supremacists to create comic strips and saleable goods around. I don't think all of them are LGBT, but maybe the people who went after Hillary are afraid of being outed. READ Donald Trump, Pepe the frog, and white supremacists: an explainer - That cartoon frog is more sinister than you might realize. September 12, 2016 by Elizabeth Chan | hillaryclinton.com

____________________

Related articles:

(...)"From 2008 onward, the term has been used to refer to a type of white identity politics that believes in racialism (the need to divide humanity into racial groups) and rejects American conservatism for being a “cuckold movement” (a cuckold is a man whose wife sleeps with other men; likewise, in the alt-right telling of the story, white conservatives are wrongfully “in bed with” other races, not only sexually, but socially, culturally, and politically)."
An Evangelical Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right June 22, 2017 bruceashford.net

(...)"Jon Stone, in The Guardian, called it a "swelling of vicious right-wing sentiment" and compared it to the men's rights movement.[137] Commentators such as Jon Stone, Liana Kerzner and Ryan Cooper have said that the controversy is being exploited by right-wing voices and by conservative pundits who had little interest in gaming.[137][141][88] Chrisella Herzog states that in addition to violent sexism, Gamergate has virulent strains and violent sentiments of homophobia, transphobia, anti-Semitism, racism, and neo-Nazism.[80] Some in the gamergate movement went on to be part of the alt-right." Gamergate controversy - Wikipedia

"Longtime LGBTQ organizer Scot Nakagawa has been fighting white nationalist movements for over 30 years, now as a senior partner at ChangeLab, a think tank on racial justice. Says Nakagawa, "We have to remember that even racist white gay men are still very vulnerable to discrimination" because they're gay. "When one is under attack"—not by phantom Muslims, but by real, neighborhood gaybashers—"one picks up whatever shields one can,"even shields like racism that will not fight the true threat. In Donovan's writing, it's clear that what he's terrified of most is "weakness," especially male weakness. (He notes that he feels "disgusting" if he doesn't train in a gym "for more than a few days.")" How the Alt-Right Is Using Sex and Camp to Attract Gay Men to Fascism -
￼Queer people are not immune to fascist impulses. By Donna Minkowitz, June 5, 2017 Slate

The new Alt-Right / Alt-Light group acts like Westboro Baptist Church when they storm public places and get filmed without a permit amongst the people they set out to provoke on camera (assuming these people are strangers to the provocateurs, not actors). It's an obnoxious precedent set by the fringe groups to justify free speech through aggressive bullying tactics, all for show.

Are they Nazis? Anything seems possible disguised as a joke.

Via Haaretz: "For all their anti-immigrant sentiment, the group devotes a lot of its online activity to arguing that it’s not a white-supremacist outfit. McInnes has posted a video called “Why We Don’t Let Nazis in Proud Boys,” but the arguments can be unconvincing. For example, McInnes starts by saying "I would like to make it clear that the Nazis don’t exist.
The KKK is not storming through your campus calling people the N-word, the noose on your professor’s door was not put there by a Nazi. All those hate crimes you see are hoaxes .... Even the smoking guns you have, like that Sieg Heil they did [for Trump in November], you know those people were kidding, right?”"

Related article: OK, if this writer is more concerned about chastising the largely female base for being too picky and unpragmatic to win, unlike these awesome Alt-Right strategists, I'll just relax and take it as a joke, too... What the Alt-Right Understands about Winning Elections That Some Progressives Do Not - Why is the anti-Semitic alt-right OK with Trump’s Jewish family? The answer explains part of the movement’s success. By Yair Rosenberg, June 20, 2017 Tablet

Friday, June 16, 2017

Move over, prestige fragrances, because Bath & Body Works has a satisfyingly sweet gourmand collection at a competitive price. If you liked the white chocolate note in Britney Spears Fantasy, White Mocha Kiss from the Tutti Dolci collection is a morsel of fruity goodness dipped in white chocolate fondue. It's been compared to another scent by the same company called Beach Nights Summer Marshmallow which I've only smelled in shower gel which, sometimes, smells unlike the matching body mist, but yes, they're similar. Here are the notes on the web site:

Sweet Lemon Buttercup is a rich, sweet, cakey gourmand that starts with a sharp lemon cleanser note, yet settles down to a well-balanced blend of lemon cream and pound cake. I prefer White Mocha Kiss because it's a bit lighter, but if you want more Angel Food cake than fruit ganache, go for it.

Pink Peony Crème, which, again, I've only tried in shower gel form, boasts of an enticing blend of raspberry crème with a peony flower note, and smells more floral than gourmand. It's the most traditionally perfumey scent among the ones I smelled, conceptually similar to Vera Wang Princess but less sweet, with an ambery woody musk base without the chocolate.

Now, you might be thinking, "What's so Italian about Tutti Dolci?" I know, I almost got the Golden Honey Praline, but without an almond note, I probably wasn't getting a pignoli cookie, the Italian version of the French macaron or macaroon. But I should try it, because hazelnut praline with salted caramel sounds divine. With honey, too; maybe it smells like baklava. ☕

Monday, June 12, 2017

"Personally, I've been very open about my bisexuality because I was terrified growing up and felt very alone. There are misconceptions-a lot of people think that you're confused if you're bisexual. They want you to be either gay or straight. And there's bi-phobia in the straight community, as well as in the LGBT community, which breaks my heart."
In Her Own Words: Evan Rachel Wood Reflects on Her Bisexuality and the Power of Perfume

Marie Claire April 7, 2016

Related articles:

"Granted, there is no shortage of bisexual celebrities—and that shouldn’t be a surprise seeing as bisexual people comprise more than half of the U.S. LGBT community.

"Recent surveys have shown that bisexual people are the largest group within the LGBTQ community: half of people who identify as LGB identify as bisexual. However, bisexuals are far less likely than their gay and lesbian peers to be out, citing stereotypes, skepticism and pressure to “choose” one sexual orientation as reasons for staying in the closet.

"“I choose to use my voice because it would feel selfish to have acquired the platform to represent the underrepresented and to not use it,” she said near the end of her speech."
Evan Rachel Wood’s Big Bisexual Moment by Samantha Allen 02.09.17 The Daily Beast

"I met somebody that promised freedom and expression and no judgments," she says. "And I was craving danger and excitement. I looked at my mother one day and said, 'Mom, I'm gonna get on this tour bus for eight months and see the world and have a crazy journey and find myself, and if people aren't OK with that, I'm sorry, but I can't live my life for other people.'

"Turns out people weren't really OK with that, mostly because of the colossal mindfuck that was just looking at Wood and Manson together. But for Wood it was a learning experience of the highest order. "Most teenagers are searching for identity, and I was thrown into a situation where I was supposed to have that already figured out," she says. "Then you're demonized for figuring it out and getting messy. People would call me a whore when I walked down the street, and you can't not be hurt by that."

"What the public didn't know at the time was that Wood was attracted not just to Manson's in-your-face liberation but also to his androgyny. She has since referred to herself as gender-fluid, and in 2011 came out publicly as bisexual." Evan Rachel Wood: How Wild Past, Personal Demons Prepped Her for 'Westworld' - Former child star fought bad romances and anti-LGBTQ prejudice before channeling her craziness into paranoid-android role – and rebooting her life. By Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, November 17, 2016

"According to the report, about 61 percent of bisexual women reported some incident of rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner, compared with about 43 percent of lesbian women and 35 percent of heterosexual women.

"Ninety percent of those bisexual women who had experienced intimate partner violence had only male perpetrators, while two-thirds of lesbian victims had only female perpetrators.

Related article: "He’s also sexist: He calls women “bitches” and once cheered on a professional football player for allegedly choking his girlfriend, saying “the surprise is that someone hasn’t choked this bitch sooner.”(...)

Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Are you ready for the season finale this Friday? I haven't seen every episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, and there's so much to catch up on including episodes of Untucked, but I hope to re-watch Season 9 Episode 6 "Snatch Game," a highlight of the series according to the show's true fans. The contestants showed theatrical skills in the improv game, including Season 9's very own Marlene Dietrich, Naomi Campbell and Liza Minnelli.

Sunday, June 04, 2017

This is a new fragrance that was introduced recently as part of the 2017 collection of summer scents. Pink Sunset features notes of watermelon, coconut and rum. I smell the watermelon, but it's not a high-pitched, aqueous sport scent like Davidoff Cool Water. Combined with a watery coconut note and a deep and meditative woodsy base, the watermelon blend is sweet at first, mildly creamy like fruit-flavored toffee, with emphasis on a smoky sandalwood base for a comforting, "just came out of the sauna" warmth that lasts well through the day.

The fragrance resembles Beyonce Heat (or Heat Rush), but not as orange+musk. Pink Sunset has a woodier dry down with a note that's closer to Tom Ford Black Orchid but lighter, and to my nose not bitter at all without patchouli, and no rum like the list of notes suggested. As deep and rich as woods may be, this is not so intense, radiating an aura that's soft and warm, pleasant and peaceful. At the end of the day, it is VS and it smells pink, borne of a simple combination of notes that works at the dauntingly simple task of smelling nice, which, to me, olfactorily speaking, could mean both energizing and relaxing at once.

Thursday, June 01, 2017

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈 The Bath & Body Works fragrance I'm about to show you is not quite related to LGBTQ (I), but it's all about rainbows, glitter and unicorns. The bottle for the fragrance mist has a festive design for the 2016 winter holiday launch, adorned with glittering holographic decals and gold and silver tones. The fragrance was touted in the ad as something the company has never offered before, so you knew you were getting a real unicorn of a scent.

And it is a special scent, as well as a popular one being 1 of 5 fragrances nominated for The Fragrance Foundation Awards 2017 for Consumer Choice. The notes on the Bath & Body Works web site are: Almond flower, white iris & whipped vanilla. My first reaction was that it smelled like Cacharel Noa. Going into soapy-powdery musk territory, I thought, "Oh, it's Rain." Then the sweeter notes emerged, and then it brought to mind almond scents: Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle L'Eau d'Hiver, Penhaligon's Artemisia, almond-scented milled soap. The scent begins a bit sharp, with sort of an abrasive, chemical musk tone topped with lily. What I get in the end is a faint vanilla with a bit of almond lotion, and cool, white lilies floating in the air like iridescent lotus blossoms. This is a pretty scent but in a quiet, unassuming way. Even Kate Middleton would approve, as her white floral wedding perfume wasn't so different than this.

I've seen on other sites additional notes like coconut, but I smell nothing tropical. With white iris in the blend, the composition is more of a powdery Floral musk, something like Victoria's Secret Heavenly but not as powdery and heavy. I think Bath & Body Works could've listed musk first, but that would turn off a consumer like me, and the musk note has improved over the years to not be as, uh, musky... or powdery, or anything that doesn't make you feel refreshed after you apply it. This scent is understated, evanescent and teasingly gourmand with sugar and spice. Magic in the Air deserves attention and a chance to come home and be the well-behaved musk you never knew you needed or even existed.